weindolphul
If you are a fan of President Reagan you will enjoy your visit. It is a bit out of the way, however that makes it an enjoyable ride down back roads and a visit to a small town. It really is a great place to visit for Reagan fans and it is also interesting simply to see what small town was like in yester year. The furnishings are "period pieces" so not what the Reagans actually had. The museum downstairs has some interesting artifacts. If you are in Tampico you should go on to Dixon to see his boyhood home.
scott10619
It opens everyday at 10 am. It is free. It is where Ronald Reagan was born and spent his first 3 months as an infant. No, the articles inside are not Reagan originals, but did I mention they are not charging you $10.95 to go thru it? The owner of the apartment understood the historical significance of the property, and instead of continuing to rent it out, he opened it up to the public to see, and I thank him for that. His only income now is donations from grateful sightseers. The gift shop has some unique, one of a kind or limited availability items, that may only be found here. It's worth the time to get a quick look inside his tiny upstairs apartment. His boyhood home where he spent many years from age 9 or so on up to 22 or something is just 25 miles up the road in Dixon, Illinois, and well worth the stop also.
46julieB46
My husband and I visited in September 2013. Really enjoyed seeing the restored apartment and getting a feel for where the Reagans lived and worked when Ronald was born. The store his dad worked in is across the street and his mom's church is still there. Our tour guide was very good and made us feel welcome. I enjoyed it.
thjohnson1
While the funding for this facility is lacking, it's nice to be able to tour a presidential birthplace in a quaint, small town. The tour is donation only. The downstairs includes Reagan movie memorabilia, a refurbished bank (where you can cancel your own check from the early 1900s), books, newspapers, and souvenirs. The tour guides are great about asking how much time you have, and typically cater your tour to your needs. The gem is the upstairs apartment where Reagan was born. While it was occupied by tenants until the 1970s, it has been furnished with period-appropriate pieces to reflect what the apartment would have looked like when Reagan was born, including known items that Nelle Reagan owned (With the exception of the piano. They didn't have one, but she liked to play).The birthplace is worth the visit for Reagan aficionados, as well as families looking for a history lesson! Stop by for a lesson in small town values and how those values shaped an American president.
JamesW37
I really enjoyed the Ronald Reagan Birthplace. Joan was excellent in making an appt outside of hours to visit. My wife and kids (10-16 years of age) liked the apartment tour and the bank tour. It is definitely worth the stop. It is not just a tour of Reagan's Birthplace, it is a tour of what it was like to grow up in small town Illinois in the 20's.
bjcunn
People were nice. I had ' dutch apple pia ala mode ' at the Dutch diner.. I stopd by again a few wee\ks ago and had lunch there as well.
mplsrules64
The house is wonderfully restored to period. There is NOTHING there that belong to the President or that his family ever used or owned. This was rather a waste of time.
TeacherProf
The Reagans lived in an apartment over the bank in downtown Tampico. On the short tour, one can see the apartment where they lived, including the room where the President and his brother were born. It has been restored nicely so that one also gets a sense of what the time period was like. Underneath the apartment, the bank has been restored, and upstairs, visitors can go through the pass-through window to the next apartment (not restored) and then go downstairs into the visitors' center, which was a grocery store when the Reagan family lived there. There's really not much else to see in Tampico, but we intentionally went out of our way to see this and thought it was worth the trip.
edpleskovitch
The town is tiny and doesn't have much to do.The site is historical and that is the main attraction. There is an excellent Amish restaurant just down the block .The food is high quality and the price is good.The Hennepin Canal Parkway is just outside of town and is an excellent place to walk along and to fish or ride a bike.The pathway along the canal is tar and chip,so it is easy to walk on or bike on.
mountainoutin
The guided tour of the restored boyhood home (not his birthplace--that is in nearby Tampico) of Ronald Regan is worth an hour of your time when visiting Dixon.
lauramaymuse
If you have any appreciation for the life of President Ronald Reagan, then this is a place to visit. Whether or not you choose to see the other obscure towns where Reagan lived and attended school, it is definitely worth seeing where Reagan was born. If you consider yourself a "Reagan fan" you should make this stop on the map!Like many presidents before him, he was born at home. The modest apartment-above-a-storefront reveals his early beginnings. We loved that the place was in original condition and hadn't been restored to perfection.Our guide, Joan Johnson, was friendly and helpful. She was even gracious enough to stay past regular business hours to accommodate our visit. She answered every question we had! What knowledge she has acquired in becoming the true docent of Reagan's birthplace.If you come from afar, this town will surely slow you down. It is sleepy. The cafe and bars are simple. The people seem willing to engage with visitors. We liked them all. Happy 101st Mister Reagan! This is their website: http://www.tampicohistoricalsociety.com/R_Reagan_Birthplace_Museum.html
JuwelAnn
It's a pretty typical tour of a historical home, but it was fun to get a glimpse into the young life of Reagan. I enjoyed hearing the secret about the fireplace the most.
piplinerswife
small town america. theres a gas station and a few bars. theres a nice cafe for lunch. the have a soup bar at lunch time and let me tell you the soups were yummy. try there chicken strip. they are tasty too.
tomm911
The very direct simplicity is striking. When then president Reagan commented about life in the White House that he was "once more living over the store," Tampico comes stunningly to mind. Not far away to the north are the nature preserves in the Green River Valley, and to the northeast lies the cheese center of Walnut.Nearby is also the biking / hiking / equestrian (?) trail following the Feeder for the Hennepin Canal